to come. The right division of the ages will prove to be even more important and

revolutionary than the right division of the dispensations.

Paul is inspired in Eph. 1: to indicate some of the most important subjects that must

occupy our attention; they are: "What is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of

the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power

to usward who believe." The wider range of the purpose of the ages can only be rightly

understood when viewed from the more immediate standpoint of a true knowledge of the

present age.  This present age is very complex, being sub-divided into a series of

dispensations, and we cannot hope to have very clear conceptions of what lies beyond the

ages until the more immediate considerations are in some measure realized.  The

recognition of these things should, however, deter us from assuming finality on any line

of doctrine which runs out to the confines of the great boundaries of inspiration. When

we compare the large portion of Scripture which is written concerning that which pertains

to the ages, with the space devoted to instruction concerning that which came before, and

that which lies beyond the ages, the course of our study will be fairly evident.

No.9.--"The better resurrection" and "some better things for us"

(Heb. 11: 35, 40).--Do these passages refer to the Church?

I take it that in your mind there is the idea that possibly the "better resurrection" and

"better thing" is equivalent to the "out-resurrection" and "high calling" of Phil. 3: The

only safe way to understand Heb. 11: is to be sure that we grasp, at least in some degree,

the epistle as a whole.

The question of authorship not being in view, we will accept as proved that the apostle

Paul was the human instrument. You will observe that, unlike the other epistles of Paul,

there is no introductory salutation. No church is addressed, but instead a people to whose

fathers God in time past spake by the prophets, and to whom God had, in the days then

running out, spoken by His Son. After a most important parenthesis, in which much

necessary teaching concerning the person and glory of the Son of God is brought to light,

the apostle urges his readers (3: 1) who are partakers of the heavenly calling to consider

the Apostle and High Priest of their profession, Christ Jesus.

He follows his observations with a most pointed allusion to the days of Israel's

The original sanctification of the Sabbath day was prophetic of a "Sabbath keeping"

yet to come, for after Israel had entered the land, and David reigned as King, still the

hope of a future entry into rest was held out, showing that Joshua ("Jesus," 4: 8) did not

exhaust the promise in the days of old.